On Eve of National Nurses Day, Morris County Sheriff's Office Leads Motorcade to Honor Nurses, Health Care Workers and Loved Ones Lost To COVID-19
Published on May 05, 2020
A motorcade of police vehicles and motorcycles, organized by the Morris County Sheriff's Office, the Morris County Office of Emergency Management and County College of Morris, conducted a drive-by tribute Tuesday past four hospitals and clinics in honor of nurses, health care workers and all the lives lost to COVID-19.
Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon and Bureau of Law Enforcement Undersheriff Mark Spitzer before the motorcade to honor health care workers.
The solemn, quiet procession of 19 law enforcement vehicles and 12 motorcycles was planned to coincide with National Nurses Day on May 6 and National Nurses Week, which runs from May 6 through May 12.
Lights on the vehicles were flashing but no sirens or horns were sounded as motorcade participants waved and called thank you to healthcare workers who gathered outdoors to acknowledge them.
This was an opportunity to show all the nurses and health care providers that we cherish them and won't forget their herculean efforts to treat and save people from this insidious virus. It was a remembrance, also, of people whose lives were lost, taken from families and friends that loved them, Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon said.
Health Care Workers at St. Clare's Hospital-Dover respond to a motorcade in their honor on May 5, 2020.
The motorcade began at 12:30 p.m. at the County College of Morris in Randolph, where it passed by nurses from Atlantic Health System and all the essential partners contributing since March 30 to operations at the Morris County COVID-19 Drive-Thru testing site.
The test site partners include the Morris County Office of Emergency Management, County College of Morris, Morris County Office of Health Management, Morris County Medical Reserve Corps, Morris County Park Police and the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy Fire Division.
The procession passed by the Zufall Health Center in Dover and then past the front entrance of St. Clare's Hospital in Dover. From there, the motorcade proceeded through a parking lot of St. Clare's Hospital in Denville, where a large crowd of health care workers had assembled.
The convoy of police vehicles and motorcycles next traveled to Pequannock to loop around the rear and front of Chilton Medical Center before traveling to Morristown Medical Center, and then past nurses and health care workers gathered on the steps of the Morris County Correctional Facility.
A police motorcade in honor of health care workers proceeds past Chilton Medical Center in Pequannock on May 5, 2020.
The last homage was paid to Zufall Health Center in Morristown, where workers gathered to wave from the sidewalk.
Sheriff Gannon and Sheriff's Office Bureau of Law Enforcement Undersheriff Mark Spitzer rode in the procession, as did multiple Officers of all ranks from the Bureaus of Law Enforcement and Corrections. A Morris County Office of Emergency Management professional drove the mobile ambulance bus in the procession.
Morris County Sheriff's Office Detective Sergeant David Kenny and Corrections Corporal Pete Lohmus, of the Agency's Motor Unit, rode motorcycles in the procession, along with Officers from Madison, Long Hill, Montville, Kinnelon and Hanover Police Departments and the Morris County Park Police.
Morris County Law Enforcement Agencies that participated in the motorcade included Officers and Detectives from the Morris County Park Police, Morris County Prosecutor's Office, Mount Arlington, Wharton, Madison, Mount Olive, Rockaway Township and Rockaway Borough Police Departments, and the County College of Morris Department of Public Safety.